That headline is the kind that makes you look at your hose like it’s a ticking time bomb, especially if you water lettuce, herbs, or tomatoes. Here’s the calmer truth: stories like this often spread faster than the evidence, and it’s not always clear that the EPA has actually named a specific consumer garden hose…
drip irrigation
Busy Gardeners Are Making This One Mistake — And It’s Killing Their Plants
If your garden looks fine for a week and then suddenly starts collapsing, it’s probably not bad luck or a “brown thumb.” Most plant problems don’t come from one dramatic failure—they come from a small habit that repeats until plants can’t recover. The tricky part is that this one mistake often feels responsible, especially when…
Why Gardeners in Texas Are Losing Entire Beds to This Soil-Borne Fungus
One week your peppers look fine, and the next week an entire section of the bed collapses like someone flipped a switch. In Texas, that “sudden wipeout” pattern is often tied to heat, humid nights, and a pathogen that hangs out in the soil waiting for the perfect moment—often southern blight (Sclerotium rolfsii). The frustrating…
Water Boards Say This Common Irrigation Setup Is Wasting Thousands of Gallons
If your plants look fine but your water bill keeps creeping up, your irrigation setup might be quietly draining money into the street. A lot of gardeners set sprinklers and timers once, then never touch them again—because everything seems “good enough.” The problem is that weather changes, plants grow, and tiny leaks turn into big…
The Best Time of Day to Water—And Why Most People Get It Wrong
You’ve probably seen it before—your neighbor out there with a hose in hand at high noon, giving their lawn a good soaking while the sun blazes overhead. It might look productive, but here’s the truth: most people are watering their lawns, gardens, and plants at exactly the wrong time of day. And this simple mistake…
4 Frugal DIY Drip Irrigation Systems
Buying a fancy drip irrigation system is one way to go. But it’ll cost you. Instead, consider a DIY drip irrigation system. Either way, you’ll need to spend time installing irrigation, so why not save a few bucks, too? Benefits of drip irrigation You’ve got a hose or a sprinkler, so why invest…